Euronews

Bolivia’s president Evo Morales has threatened to close the US embassy in his country after his plane was rerouted in Europe.

At a special summit of left-leaning South American leaders, they discussed the incident where Morales’ plane was diverted as he returned from Moscow, where NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is said to be holed up.

He was forced to land in Austria after EU countries denied him passage on the unfounded suspicion that Snowden was aboard.

Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez said: “One thinks of the developed nations who invest so much money in their intelligence and security apparatuses and then all of a sudden, these very security agencies wrongly informed their governments. Evidently, they informed them that inside President Morale’s plane was a person who was exercising his right to asylum.”

The leaders demanded an apology from France, Portugal, Italy and Spain for their involvement in the incident and protesters outside a US embassy in Bolivia showed their anger at what they saw as European countries bowing to pressure from Washington.